Trott on course for cricket return

Trott on course for cricket return - The West Australian

Batsman Jonathan Trott is set to return to county cricket in April, more than four months after leaving England's Ashes tour of Australia with a stress-related illness.

Trott, 32, returned home after twice falling cheaply to fast bowler Mitchell Johnson in a crushing 381-run loss in the first Test at Brisbane last November.

That prompted concerns the South Africa-born batsman, who made a hundred on Test debut against Australia at The Oval in 2009, might have struggled to return to the international arena.

But former England batsman Dennis Amiss, chairman of Trott's benefit committee, said on Wednesday he expected the top-order batsman to turn out for county side Warwickshire in a pre-season friendly against Gloucestershire in April.

"He's still very hungry," Amiss told the BBC. "He wants to continue succeeding both for Warwickshire and for England."

Trott, who has scored 3763 runs, including nine hundreds, in 49 Tests for England at an average of 46.95, has been granted time for a family holiday while Warwickshire are on their pre-season tour in Barbados.

But he will join up with the squad on their return and is in line to play against Gloucestershire at Warwickshire's Edgbaston headquarters in Birmingham, central England, on April 1-2.

He will also be considered for the first-class match against Oxford University from April 7 and the County Championship opener against Sussex from April 13.

Amiss, who was Warwickshire chief executive when Trott arrived at Edgbaston from South Africa in 2002, said he had been encouraged by the player's state of mind during their recent meetings.

"He's doing very well," Amiss said. "He's had a great rest, which is very important, and he is raring to go again.

"Cricket is his passion and I believe he has qualities, as we've seen, to be able to score a mass of runs for Warwickshire to get himself back into the England side and regain his position."

Trott has not spoken publicly since he left Australia on November 25, saying: "I don't think it is right that I'm playing, knowing that I'm not 100 per cent."

Amiss added: "I think it was essentially burnout. The England and Wales Cricket Board has helped him while he has been back. Everybody has given him a lot of help. Rest has been the most important thing."